Synergy of Organic Nanoclay and Inorganic Phosphates for Fire Retardant Leather Applications

Abstract

Leather is a material used for various purposes includingupholstery in airplanes, ships, automobiles and furniture.Leather requires good fire resistance properties for use inupholstery due to the possibilities of exposure to fire. Here, wereport a method to produce fire retardant leather using organicnanoclay and ammonium dihydrogen phosphate as flameretardant additives through surface coating. Treated leatherswere characterized using vertical f lammability test,thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopicanalysis, mechanical and hand and visual evaluation. Treatedleathers left higher residues at 700oC than the control leatherindicating their lower thermal decomposition potential. Further,we demonstrated that the ignition time of treated leathers isincreased by more than 5 sec and treated leathers show negligibleflame time after fire source was removed. The physical andorganoleptic evaluations of treated leathers as well as otherresults suggest that a combination of organic nanoclay andinorganic phosphate provides fire retardant leathers forupholstery leather applications with acceptable strength andbulk properties.